Once we arrived in Bangkok (BKK) we took a Grab to the place Brin had reserved. In Asia there isn't Lyft or Uber, it's called Grab. Download the app before you go. They send out discounts once in a while too. We used Grab a lot. We also used it to get a quote and then negotiate with cabs. Cabs will usually overcharge you unless you can show them the price on Grab. Always ask for a lower fare. The price is usually negotiable. Don't be afraid to ask! I wasn't very good at it but Brin got pretty good! The other app to download is Google Translate. It is helpful for asking the taxi driver to get you where you want to go.
We arrived at our first hotel that Sunday afternoon. The hotel is at the end of an alley. You pass by apartments and homes to get there. The city is very crowded and there are people and animals everywhere! The hotel was called Nest by Sangob. https://nestbysangob.com/ It was not very close to downtown so we ended up using a Tuk Tuk or Grab to get around. The hotel was clean and had AC. They have a nice pool in the middle and a breakfast every morning. They will even take requests (like bacon and eggs). We had a room with 2 king beds and it was $75 a night. Next time I think we will stay closer to town, but the price was great and the staff running the place was wonderful. They gave us advice and made sure we were taken care of.
Our first day in Thailand we visited temple ruins outside the city. We visited Wat Mahatthat in Ayutthaya. Karim booked a driver for the day. He picked us up at our hotel and drove us up to the temple grounds. The temples were built in the 1400's but they were destroyed in 1767 by the Burmese. We took amazing photos here and saw how they were created. We saw the famous Buddha face in the tree roots and we also visited the famous reclining Buddha. We also got dropped off at a "floating market" which was really just a market with a moat in the middle! LOL! Not the market we were expecting. We had authentic Thai food for lunch and drank lots of water and Coke Light. It gets very warm and the humidity is always high. I bought Elephant pants (the loose flowy pants everyone wears) and they were awesome for the climate. I highly recommend buying the pants! Also, bring extra shirts that are cool.
You will sweat, a lot. After our day outing, we had to get back to our hotel because Karim was leaving to go back to Sydney. He was a lot of fun to hang out with and he takes amazing pictures! We wish we had more time with him too.
That night we went to a real night market. There were tons of vendors. There was a food section that smelled delicious but I was a little nervous about some of the food. One thing I did love was the coconut ice cream. Make sure you have the vendor put fresh Mango on top! Seriously the best! Matt loved to Mango sticky rice....rice with sweetened condensed milk and Mango. Very delicious. Matt and Brin also enjoyed some fried seafood and I had the chicken skewers. The atmosphere was busy and loud and fun. It was a great experience.
The next day we went to the temples in Bangkok. We saw the Emerald Buddha, the extremely large reclining gold Buddha at Wat Pho (must see), we saw the temple complex of Wat Phra Kaew, and the Grand Palace. We crossed the river and visited the Temple of Dawn, Wat Arun. Matt was wearing shorts and had to buy elephant pants because of the dress code. It was a full day but everything was so beautiful! Again, we were super hot so pace yourself and drink lots of bottled water. That afternoon we found a temple called Wat Prayurawongsawat Worawihan. It was a beautiful white dome and we found a little turtle pond right next door. It was kid friendly and cool. There was a cute little girl feeding the turtles and it was a nice break from the hot day! Later that night we went to another night market and had street food again. The shopping is fun and so cheap. Make sure you have extra room in your suitcase.
The next morning we flew from Bangkok to Krabi on Vietjet. We bought tickets for around $45. The flight attendants had the cutest uniforms! They wore shorts and had Peter Pan hats and red shoes. Seriously so cute. Once we got to Krabi we took a bus to Ao Nang, which is on the coast. The bus dropped us off literally at the beach. We hung out on the beach for an hour or so. We booked an Airbnb that morning in Ao Nang.
We had a Tuk tuk take us up to our villa. We reserved a 2 bedroom villa with a private pool for $100 a night. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/29473396?guests=1&adults=1.
The villa was great and we loved the AC! We used the pool everyday too. It was so great to cool off after a hot day. The manager also rented us mopeds for $6 and $8 a day. We had 2 scooters. Brin rode on smaller one and Matt and I took the larger one. We went down to the beach and shopped. Brin and I got our nails done and Matt got a massage. We went to dinner and then got more Coconut Ice Cream!The next day we went to the Hang Nak lookout. It took about 30 minutes on scooters to get there. The hike itself was about 5 miles round trip. It took us 1.5 hours to reach the top so bring bottled water and snacks.
We signed in at the bottom of the trail and when we returned and signed out and left a tip. I guess that goes to any potential rescue operations! There were stairs that led to a steep trail going up. We were in the shade most of the time so that was nice. It was a beautiful day and we took some amazing pictures at the overlook. There is a rocky outcropping that is terrifying and beautiful so of course we had to take pictures of each of us sitting on the edge. We headed back down and hopped on our scooters (after leaving the required tip) and drove back towards Ao Nang for lunch. We found an awesome resort along the way called Baan Ton Mai and they had a restaurant called The Tree House Cafe. We literally walked upstairs and sat in a giant tree house to eat lunch. As soon as we sat down a huge rainstorm came up and it poured very heavily for 30 minutes. Our timing was perfect and we were protected from the storm. I felt bad for all the people who were still up on that steep trail. I am positive it had turned into a muddy mess. 
Matt and I went for a run on Friday. We went down to the beach and ran past a bunch of lovely boats that were sitting near the beach and we saw a pack of wild dogs sleeping in the sand. There are dogs and cats and chickens all over the place. Later that day we went on a island tour we had booked the night before. We visited 4 islands on a speedboat. We paid about $130 for 4 people or 3900 baht. To do the math divide the price quoted by 30%. The boat ride was scheduled from 9-3 and included lunch. We had a guide and about 30 other passengers with us. We went to Hong Island and went into the bay.
That was gorgeous. Then we visited Lading and Deang islands. There were beautiful beaches and beautiful water. We also visited Hong beach.
For lunch we had Paenang Chicken and rice and fruit. We snorkeled and enjoyed the sandy beaches. This was probably my favorite day. I could have used one more day like this one! When we got back we went swimming and shopping and then had dinner at a restaurant called Kodam kitchen.
On our last day in Ao Nang, Matt and I again went for a run on the beach in the morning and we found a hiking trail along the shore. It started out with wooden stairs and went up and over a rocky area covered in jungle that led to a resort called Centara. I guess you can only reach the resort by boat. We soon noticed that there were wild monkeys all along this trail. They were watching us closely and looking for food. I was very glad we had no food with us. They seemed aggressive were swinging down and breaking branches to check us out. I will admit they scared me. I made sure I didn't look them in the eye. They seemed to know they owned that trail!
At 11 am, we took the high speed ferry to Phuket. We booked the ferry the night before and the best price was actually online. It was about $30 per person and it is just called Phuket Ferry. It includes pick-up before and drop-off in Phuket. We arrived about 1.5 hours later and we got a ride to the Westin Siray Bay. I used my Marriott points for our night here and we got upgraded to a suite. They have great pools and a beautiful view of the water. The beach is rocky and small so we spent the day by the infinity pool. From the pool we could see the very large white Buddha in the distance. We didn't have time to go see that one but it was very big Buddha! At night the lights made it glow and it was very pretty. We also didn't have enough time to visit the Elephant sanctuary. I was sad we missed this experience. We will be back to play with the elephants on another visit. We really could have used a few more days. There is so much to see and do in Thailand.
The next morning we had an early flight out. We took a taxi to the airport for $1200 baht ($40). Then we flew Air Asia from Phuket to Bangkok. I made a mistake and booked us to the wrong airport in Bangkok. There are 2 and the one we needed was 30 minutes away. We jumped into the first taxi we saw and had him book it over to BKK. Traffic wasn't too bad because it was Sunday. We got there with just enough time to check in for our flight to Taipei. We cut it so close! We flew EVA Air again from Bangkok to Taipei and then Taipei to LAX. The flight from TPE to LAX was only 11 hours coming back. Just a little easier. Once we got to LA we hopped on an American Airlines flight and made it back to Salt Lake. We left Sunday morning in Thailand and made it back by Sunday evening in Utah.
It was a great trip. The culture and the people are beautiful. The food was delicious and the dollar goes a long way. We would like to go back and visit Chaing Mai and definitely visit the Elephant and Tiger sanctuaries. If you go do not ride on the elephants! They are not treated very will. At the sanctuaries you can feel the elephants and play with them in the river, which seems much better to me!
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